Narrative

tenses
Past Simple Tense
Past Simple in narration
• We use the past simple to talk about past events in chronological order;
i.e. for the story’s main events.
• When she opened the door, she pretended we weren’t there and went to
her room.
• He called me and told me to go, but he wasn’t there when I arrived.
• We also use the past simple to talk about past habits or past states.
• We often went to the bar for a drink before dinner.
Past Continuous
Past continuous

• We use the past continuous the set the scene in a story.

• Last night I was walking home and listening to my
iPod when …
• The sun was shining and lots of tourists were lying on
the beach. Suddenly …
Past continuous in narration

• We use the past continuous for actions in progress in

the past or longer actions interrupted by shorter actions
in past simple.
• After dinner, I went into the living room and saw that
she was crying.
• When she opened the door, we were talking about her.
PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
Past Perfect Simple
• We use the past perfect simple to talk about an earlier
past: events which happened before the main event.
• Earlier single events
• IN NARRATION-We use the past perfect simple to
talk about an action happening before another
action in the past.
• When she opened the door, he had already left.
Past Perfect Simple
• We use the past perfect simple (and not continuous) to
say how much or how many we had done of
something earlier in the past.

• We had driven 500 miles and we needed some rest.

Past Perfect Simple-Duration from earlier in the past (stative
verbs)

• We use the past perfect simple with stative verbs to

talk about states or situations that had started earlier in
the past. We often use how long, for or since,
always, etc.
• The day Anne died, they had been married for 48
years.
Past perfect continuous
Duration from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

• We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about
longer continuous actions that started earlier in the past than the
main events of the story.

• I was furious. I had been waiting for him in the cold, and he didn’t
call to say he’d be late.
• We had been driving for less than an hour when the car broke down.
Repeated actions from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

• We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk

about repeated actions from earlier in the past.
• I couldn’t believe it. She had been writing a letter every day for over a
year.